Coming Soon...

For the new year, I've decided to reinstate the "Incoming!" list of my new releases and event appearances, but I'm changing the format a little; from now on, there's a permanent listing page set up Here that I will update as and when cool new stuff pops.

The list will show release dates for all the new books, short fiction, videogames, audios and other projects I'm working on (and are allowed to talk about), including reprints, foriegn editions and so on. I'll also include event dates for any signings, panels or seminars that I'm at, in case you want to have me write my name on stuff or just heckle.

You can also go directly to it by clicking on the COMING SOON link that has been added to the navigation bar at the top of this page...

Something Borrowed (2015 Edition)

Happy PLR Day! Where the blogs and twitter feeds of writers all across the nation celebrate the the Public Lending Right, the gift of free money, and most importantly, that libraries are awesome.

For those unfamiliar with the PLR, here's my annual public service announcement on the subject:
If you are a writer/editor/illustrator/etc, a resident of the UK or Ireland and you ever need a reason for donating your books to the library - on top of all the obvious ones like promoting reading and supporting this valuable and increasingly undermined public service - this is it.
The PLR is a system where authors who've written books that are in public libraries get a little revenue each time somebody borrows their works. It's a way to repay writers who won't be earning a royalty from a  sale in a bookstore. The hardworking folks at the PLR office pay a nominal fee based on how borrowed you were - and in the interests of fairness, you can't earn more than around £6000, so the big names don't get to hog all the money.
In the current political climate, both the PLR and the libraries it springs from are under threat, so if you are a writer or a reader, please do your bit to help support both as best you can.

Here's my Top Ten Library Loans of my novels for 2014 (with 2013's position in brackets)
1    (1)    Peacemaker
2    (2)    Fear To Tread
3    (4)    Nemesis
4    (7)    Cast No Shadow
5    (4)    Hammer & Anvil
6    (-)     The Poisoned Chalice
7    (10)  Synthesis
8    (6)    Red Fury
9    (9)    The Blood Angels Omnibus
10  (5)    The Flight of the Eisenstein

As always, my Doctor Who Western adventure Peacemaker remains welded to the top slot in the chart, and my most recent Horus Heresy novel Fear To Tread remains in second place for a second year; I was also pleased to see my Star Trek: The Fall novel The Poisoned Chalice make an appearance.

My thanks to everyone who supported their local libraries and borrowed my books!

Looking through the Gunsight - New Horus Heresy eBook

Last year, Black Library published a new Horus Heresy anthology, Death And Defiance, a limited release hardback special as part of their ongoing series of bespoke super-lovely editions; but for folks who couldn't pick up the dead tree version, BL has now made each tale in the collection individually available in glittery digital form.

That includes the story I wrote called Gunsight, which is can be downloaded directly from BL's website right Here.

I won't blow the plotline (despite the fact that the front cover strapline contains is a major spoiler!) but I will say that Gunsight is a direct sequel to the events of my second Horus Heresy novel Nemesis, which featured a disparate squad of Imperial assassins working together in hopes of terminating the archtraitor Horus Lupercal.

As anyone familiar with the larger scope of the Horus Heresy will know, it didn't go well for them, but it's in the "for want of a nail" what-if, almost-but-not-quite that story lives - and you can think of Gunsight as a coda for it. In this tale, readers meet someone forever changed by his near-miss with the Warmaster, and get a look into the doom that lies at the end of his particular fate line.

Alternatively, if you'd like to pick up the full Death And Defiance collection, you can find it Here.

2K14 Movies

My last list-of-the-year-end, and it's movies. I got a little more flicks in over 2014 than in previous years. The split between my two favourite genres (action vs. sci-fi) was pretty much 50-50 and top picks for 2014 were (perhaps unsuprisingly for me) the hugely fun Guardians of the Galaxy and the great LEGO Movie, which I found unexpectedly clever and charming. Can I just say, being a Marvel comics geek since the 70's, I am still a little amazed that I live in a world where there's a GotG film (and that there's going to be another one). What with the slate of Marvel movies announced way up until 2019, this is probably the best time ever to be a superhero fan.

Here's the list:
A Good Day To Die Hard, Drive, The World's End, Alter Egos, Cloud Atlas, Cars 2, After Earth, Django Unchained, Jack The Giant Slayer, Shoot 'Em Up, Click Print Gun, Fast and Furious 6, Planes, Despicable Me 2, Man of Steel, Marooned, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, The LEGO Movie, Iron Man/Hulk: Heroes United, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Europa Report, Moneyball, White House Down, Kick-Ass 2, Edge of Tomorrow, The Wolverine, Empire of Dreams, The Hunger Games, The Lone Ranger [2013], Guardians of the Galaxy, R.I.P.D., Fire With Fire, Tower Heist, Ebirah: Horror of the Deep, End of Watch, 47 Ronin, The Sky Crawlers, Lone Survivor, R2B: Return To Base (aka Black Eagle [2012]), Death Race 2, Captain Phillips, Death Race 3: Inferno

2K14 Games

My second year-end list; and 2014 turned out to be a year where I played less than half as many videogames as I did in the previous year, several of which were add-on titles under the same umbrella (a bunch of Disney Infinity toys-to-life games, episode from the Grand Theft Auto saga and so on). It's been a strange gaming season for me, though, caught as I am in the Old Ways having chosen not to jump to the next generation of consoles with Xbox One and PS4, or indeed upgrade my increasingly cranky PC. Xbox Live does a terrible peer pressure thing with this, showing you that your gamer mates are on-line but then mocking you with the revelation that they're sharing funtimes and laughing as a group on the the Xbone and not your decrepit 360.

Last time, I jumped generations I left a lot of games unfinished (some even untouched) and I've resolved not to do that this time around. I'm determined to work through my "pile of shame" and at least make some attempt to complete the XB360 and PS3 games I've got lying around. But honestly, I've yet to see the killer app that will make me want to make the leap to next gen anyhow, so for now I'm old-gaming, so there. That said, I have been playing some stuff that was actually new in 2014, including a good 60+ hours of my life invested in Destiny on the PS3; but I also played very old stuff in the form of Death Race, a generation one arcade game from 1976 that was one of the first titles to be banned in a panic over "videogame violence". Comparing Death Race's act of running over stick people to Destiny's melonpopping headshots seems almost quaint now... And so, GOTYs for me were the fiendish mobile murder puzzler Hitman GO and the fun-but-flawed Destiny, which I enjoyed while it lasted, and equally enjoyed griping about. I also liked a preview of Battlefield Hardline, which I want to play some more of in the year ahead.

Here's the full list:
Forza Motorsport 5, Catlateral Damage, Deus Ex: The Fall (PC version), Call of Duty: Ghosts, Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost & Damned, Death Race, Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony, Star Wars Rebels: Ghost Raid, Disney Infinity 2.0: Guardians of the Galaxy, AirMech Arena, Destiny (PS4 & PS3 versions), Battlefield Hardline, Cat Petting Simulator 2014, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Hitman GO, Parable of the Polygons, Disney Infinity 2.0: The Avengers, Disney Infinity 2.0: Escape From The Kyln, Disney Infinity 2.0: Assault on Asgard, Red Bull Air Race: The Game, Far Cry 4